The Odisha High Court is the High Court of the state of Odisha.
History :- Bengal Presidency was a vast province including present day Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. It was difficult to administratively manage such a vast area, inhabited by people speaking in different languages and having different traditions. Administrative exigencies required separation of such areas which originally did not from part of Bengal. So, new province of Bihar and Odishsa was formed on 22 March 1912. However, the said new province of Bihar and Odisha was under the jurisdiction of Calcutta High Court.
On 9 February 1916, in exercise of the powers under Section 113 of the Government of India Act, 1915, the King of England issued letters of patent constituting High Court of Patna. Odisha was placed under the jurisdiction of Patna High Court. Although, on 18 May 1916, Circuit Court of Patna High Court for Odisha held its first sitting at Cuttack.
On 1 April 1936, Odisha was made a separate province but no separate High Court was provided for it. People raised their voice for a separate High Court in their state. After a long battle, Government of India agreed to create a new High Court, and for that purpose the Government of India issued the Odisha High Court Order, 1948, under the Section 229(1) of the Government of India Act, 1935, on 30 April 1948. This order clearly stated that “from the 5th day of July, 1948, there shall be a Court for the Province of Orissa, which shall be a Court of Record”. Finally, on 26 July 1948, Odisha High Court was formally inaugurated. The seat of the court is Cuttack. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 27.
The Chief Justice
Justice K.S. Jhaveri of the Rajasthan High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court subsequent to Justice Saran’s elevation to the Supreme Court of India.
Former Chief Justices
| # | Chief Justice | Term |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bira Kishore Ray | 26 July 1948 – 30 October 1951 |
| 2 | B. Jagannadha Das | 31 October 1951 – 3 March 1953 |
| 3 | Lingaraj Panigrahi | 4 March 1953 – 21 March 1956 |
| 4 | R. Laxman Narasimham | 22 March 1956 – 27 December 1964 |
| 5 | Khaleel Ahmed | 18 January 1965 – 5 April 1967 |
| 6 | Satya Bhusan Burman | 6 April 1967 – 30 April 1969 |
| 7 | Gati Krushna Misra | 1 May 1969 – 30 October 1975 |
| 8 | Siba Narayan Shankar | 1 November 1975 – 12 October 1977 |
| 9 | Sukanta Kishor Ray | 13 October 1977 – 4 November 1980 |
| 10 | Ranganath Mishra | 16 January 1981 – 14 March 1983 |
| 11 | Dambarudhar Pathak | 11 August 1983 – 28 February 1986 |
| 12 | Harilal Agrawal | 1 May 1986 – 31 July 1989 |
| 13 | Banwarilal Hansaria | 22 February 1990 – 13 December 1993 |
| 14 | Girish Thakurlal Nanavati | 31 January 1994 – 27 September 1994 |
| 15 | Vallabhdas Aidan Mohta | 28 September 1994 – 25 April 1995 |
| 16 | Sailendu Nath Phukan | 2 August 1996 – 27 January 1999 |
| 17 | Biswanath Agrawal | 18 November 1999 – 18 October 2000 |
| 18 | N.Y. Hanumanthapa | 17 February 2001 – 24 September 2001 |
| 19 | P. K. Balasubramanyan | 5 December 2001 – 10 March 2003 |
| 20 | Sujit Barman Roy | 9 April 2003 – 27 January 2007 |
| 21 | A.K. Ganguly | 2 March 2007 – 18 May 2008 |
| 22 | Balbir Singh Chauhan | 16 July 2008 – 10 May 2009 |
| 23 | Bilal Nazki | 14 November 2009 – 17 November 2009 |
| 24 | V. Gopala Gowda | 25 March 2010 – 23 December 2012 |
| 25 | C. Nagappan | 27 February 2013 – 18 September 2013 |
| 26 | Adarsh Kumar Goel | 12 October 2013 – 06 July 2014 |
| 27 | Amitava Roy | 06 August 2014 – 26 February 2015 |
| 28 | Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela | 04 June 2015 – 14 February 2016 |
| 29 | Vineet Saran | 26 February 2016 – 06 August 2018 |
| 30 | Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri | 12 August 2018 – continuing |